Wonderland
by waterlily12
Summary: "Yes, yes. This is the land of imagination and only that. But can't imagination itself be real with the mind? It is the imagination of Wonderland that created that fairy tale that you humans called Alice in Wonderland. It may be real or it may be fake, just like your hair - did you dye it in grape juice?" She likes Alice in Wonderland, but not as much as to be stuck in it.
1. Want to Go Home

**So, this is supposed to be a oneshot to jog my brain so that it would loosen up. It's something I wrote a while ago (Got inspiration on something I read so it isn't that original) but never finished so yeah... it ended up being a twoshot though.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Elsword or Alice in Wonderland.**

* * *

The jingling bell rang, signaling the presence of someone who just entered the little cozy cafe known as Wonderland. The black and white floor tiles seem spotless in the lighting of the store despite the place being crowded.

"Ah, Aisha!" An older-looking blonde greeted once the girl entered. She is wearing a preppy outfit of a dark blue vest over a blouse and a white pleated skirt; rabbit paws consumed her hands and a rabbit tail attached to the back of her outfit as well as long rabbit ears sitting on her silky golden hair. "Right on time, why don't you go in the back and get ready? We have a lot of customers today but we can't have a Wonderland without our Alice, now can we?"

Aisha did a salute and smiled. "Roger that, Rena the Rabbit!"

Rena Lire, the shop owner, founded this shop and named it Wonderland because of her love for the fairy tale. It attracted a lot of attention as well as other Alice in Wondering lovers with it's unique setting and the cosplaying employees. Despite having a lot of customers compared to other shops, Rena decided to keep the place small because she liked the cozy atmosphere.

Aisha came upon the shop when she was searching for a job. Being fond of Alice in Wonderland, she decided to apply. She was acquainted with Rena and had gotten the role of Alice based on the shop owner's reasoning of "you looking like a Alice so you're hired!"

It was unorthodox but the purplette didn't complain.

Aisha headed into the back of her shop to put away her school things, on the way, she meet with the Queen of Hearts.

"Hiya Eve!" Aisha greeted, who got a nod of acknowledgement back. Knowing Eve to be quiet and stoic all the time, Aisha didn't take mind the silent reply and made her way to the lockers so that she could change into her blue dress with a white apron.

Deciding on keeping her low pigtails, she just put the black bow hairband on her head before heading out to wait on customers.

"Hey Aisha!" The King of Hearts greeted as he was clocked on break.

"Hi Chung, how are things?" Aisha asked as she walked by

"All right."

The purplette bid a quick goodbye before entering back into the shop. She looked around, seeing Eve taking orders placidly and Rena seemed to be talking to one of the customers sitting alone.

"You're just like the sleepy dormouse!" Rena chirped.

"Hm…?" The raven haired man looked as though he was going to fall asleep any minute now but manage to stay awake. While Rena was chirping with all the energy she has compared to him, he didn't seem to care as he looked at the menu, yawning.

"... Can you stop talking now?" He decided to interrupt the blonde's blabbering and then pointed to the menu. "I want to order."

"Alice! I'm ready for my order!"

"Coming!" Aisha shifted her attention and that started her busy work days at Wonderland Cafe.

Although this place was successful, they were pretty short on staffs but Rena took her time finding more. She reasoned that she wants to find people who can fit the role exactly - how she evaluate people, Aisha haven't a clue. But so far, they have most of the Wonderland characters but… they were missing a few. The main one being the Mad Hatter. Aisha hoped that Rena would make up her mind soon, because a Wonderland without a Mad Hatter is like...a fairy tale without magic.

By closing time, everyone else has already left for home except for Aisha and Rena.

The purplette was cleaning the tables while Rena was in the back, working out the new applications.

Aisha sighed a breath of exhaustion when she finished and wiped her forehead. At that moment, she decided to looking up and out the window of the shop, finding the full moon to be somehow mesmerizing.

She reluctantly ripped her gaze away because it was getting late and she needed to go home. Just as she turned, there was a sudden influx of air that caused her to tilt down, seeing a hole in the ground.

"...Eh?" Was all she could uttered before taking a fall. "EEEEHHHHH?!"

Her heart wanted to abandon her as she screamed in panic. She dared to look down, only to realize that she was falling in the sky, and below her was a forest. She closed her eyes shut, panicking even more.

 _Oh God, I'm going to die!_

Just as she was about to accept her fate, Aisha felt everything around her slowing to a halt. She pried open an eye and then another, meeting crimson red ones.

The man that had a arm wrapped around her shoulders had messy crimson hair that was being swept by a gently breeze. He was wearing a suit, something that looked a bit familiar but Aisha didn't remember where.

He seemed to smile when she opened her eyes, which made her heart skip a beat. "Hello, and welcome to Wonderland, where dreams can come true but where it can distorted. I'm Elsword, the Mad Hatter."

Her eyes blinked several times before processing what was happening. She only got to the part where there was a strange man holding her before giving a yelp of surprise and trying to push the man away.

Once she was out of his grip, Aisha could feel the air rushing back and realized that she was still in midair and still falling to her death!

"Wha -"

"Be careful," The man cautioned before taking the purplette by the finger tips and Aisha could feel her body steadying as if she was on ground. Lilia irises looked up at the man to see him holding an umbrella with his other hand - something she hadn't noticed till now - except, it was inside out, but it still seem to keep the man and her afloat for some odd reason.

If Aisha had been in her right state of mind, she would write a ten page essay as to how that was physically impossible. But for now, she settled with: _What's going on?!_

They slowly descend to the ground, with Aisha gaping like a fish. Elsword found that a bit tiring, since he was used to such reactions.

"You should stop staring," He advised, but then smirked. "Or is it perhaps you have fallen for me?"

"... Eh?" Aisha blinked, finally able to function again - but not in the normal way. She immediately ripped her hand away from the strange man and distanced herself as far as possible. "W-what kind of a l-lame p-pick-up line is that?!"

The redhead shrugged, closing his inside-out umbrella as if there wasn't anything wrong with it nor did he paid it any heed when it look like cane.

He gave the newcomer a look over, seeing her donning in clothes fit of an Alice. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "You must be another one."

Aisha's face immediately contorted into confusion. "Another one? Of what?"

Elsword shook her head, dismissing it as something trivial that would stay and go as they please.

"... What?"

The Mad Hatter sighed. "I don't want to indulge in more of this silliness but may I ask of your name Alice? Everyone must have a name or they wouldn't dare to exist and if they didn't exist, then that would mean Wonderland had erased the name long ago.."

The purplette raised a brow, trying to understand what he was rambling about but couldn't. Her head hurts from the nonsense he spouted so she decided to cut him off. "Aisha. Aisha Cerise. Nice to meet you…" She trailed, the redhead's previous introduction finally caught up to her. "... EEEEHHHH?!"

She has been using that too often in one day.

Elsword winced and pulled the brim of his top hat, only for them to turn into earmuffs. "You're quite the unusually loud one but then again, if you aren't loud, then you wouldn't be you."

"Y-you - Mad Hatter- Wonderland - WHAT?!" Aisha exclaimed, her eyes swirling from everything flooding her all the once. "But - but - t-that's only…"

Elsword sighed and placed his hands in his pant pockets. "Yes, yes. This is the land of imagination and only that. But can't imagination itself be real with the mind? It is the imagination of Wonderland that created that fairy tale that you humans called Alice in Wonderland. It may be real or it may be fake, just like your hair - did you dye it in grape juice?"

Aisha took offense to that. "W-what?! Just so you know, my hair color is one hundred percent natural unlike yours!"

Elsword was amused. "Now, now, Aisha the Alice. If my hair isn't red then it'll be every other color of the rainbow. But it isn't because the blue is taken by the sky, the green by the grass, yellow by the sun, orange by orangutans, purple by your hair, and all that's left is red, which is left for my hair."

The purplette twitched an eye. "Okay, whatever, I'll get a headache if I keep listening to you talking in circles. Wake me up from this dream right now because this is a nightmare!"

"How could you say that?" Elsword pouted and the Aisha resisted the urge to blush. "Wonderland is like no place on Earth. A land full of wonder, mystery, and danger! I would show you but you won't be able survive because -"

"Yeah yeah, I'm not as mad as the hatter." Aisha interrupted with an eye roll, knowing the story from heart.

The redhead smiled and tipped his earmuffs that turned back into a top hat. "I would love to stand and be a chatter bug but I'm not said insect. I have a tea party to attend for the last one ended when I was abruptly summoned. Such as I am, you are invited, so would you care to join? Or will you be trying to find a way home, like every other girl that came and went?"

He offered a hand and waited for the purplette to decide.

Aisha looked around, finding that being along in a forest was not the best idea in a strange place such as this. Hesitantly, she took Elsword's hand.

Satisfied, Elsword took off his hat. "Your carriage, M'lady."

The purplette would have blushed if she wasn't confused. "But that's your top hat."

He chuckled in amusement. "Of course. Anyone can go by horse or rail, but the absolute best way to travel is by hat. Why, have I made a rhyme?"

"No… no you didn't."

Elsword let out another laugh before placing the hat on the ground and suddenly scooping Aisha up, prompting her to yelp and squirm.

"L-let me down!"

"No can do," The redhead grinned before looking around. "Now… where's that door knob…"

"Huh?!"

"Ah, there it is." He took said brass knob out of his pocket and inserted it into the hat.

"In we go!" Elsword said suddenly and he leapt… right into the upside down top hat. "... And out we go!"

They were somehow spitted out of a bell flower and into a chair.

"Welcome back Elsword~!"

"What's up mate, you're late." Now that's a rhyme.

"No, I'm not. The party just started because I'm here," Elsword countered. "Just like how the last one ended when I'm gone with the wind. Now where's our cook, we have a new guest who is in need of something to eat… if she isn't asleep."

Elsword shook Aisha to get her to open her eyes. "Wake up wake up, yesterday is today and today is yesterday, Tomorrow has not come yet so don't prepare for it already you brunette."

The purplette smacked him on the head. "Will you stop talking in circles?! I can't understand a word! And my hair is not brown, it's violet!"

The redhead massage his head. "Great, another headache just came to take shelter in an already bulging pile. I wish they would leave but it seems they do not fear being crushed."

One of the Hatter's guests giggled. "It seems that you picked up a strange little girl."

"No, she's normal. We're strange because we're normal. If we're ever normal, then who's to say we're not strange?"

"True true." Another, a mouse, answered. "So she is not strange."

"Yep."

"Because she is normal." continued a flamingo.

"Absolutely."

"And normal is strange." finished a squirrel.

"You heard right."

"... I'm right here y'know." Aisha wondered if everyone in this so-called Wonderland always this weird... and confusing.

"On another note, can you get off of me?" Elsword interrupted her thoughts. "I'm not a chair but if I think I am, then therefore I am. But I'm not having such thoughts so I'm still the Mad Hatter."

Aisha blinked again before blushing profusely. "S-sorry!" She then hopped off of his lap but remained standing.

"W-what is this place?" She asked, looking around, finding them to be surrounded in all directions by leaves and flowers of different sizes.

"A place where tea is served and there's a party so don't be unnerved," Elsword quipped and gestured to an empty seat. "Are you going to stand? Or sit? Either way is fine with me but your share is getting hot."

Aisha looked to the plate that Elsword pointed, a pie. "Don't you mean getting cold?"

"No, I mean it's getting hot."

"But that's -"

Elsword sighed and took an empty tea cup to scoop into the pie. "Try some."

Hesitantly, the purplette took to cup, but instead of seeing cake, she saw tea. The porcelain that she was holding had also dropped in temperature.

"Wait, is this -"

"Ice tea." The redhead interrupted. "Today is hot so I decided to serve ice with tea. Does it not suit your taste? Maybe if you wear something different, then that will help you enjoy the tea"

"... That's not how it works." Aisha frowned but took a sip nonetheless, brightening right after. "This is delicious!"

A crow cawed as opposed to laughing. "Of course! Our cook makes exquisite tea!"

Holding up a teacup, Elsword turned towards the purpeltte. "Would you like to meet him?"

Aisha nodded. "Maybe I can even ask how to make them, Eve would definitely like to try this!"

Elsword tilt his head. "Eve? Eve as in the Queen of the Red Hearts? Since when was she ever interested in teas and the likes? Ah never mind that, meet Kor, the rabbit."

Out of the pot came spilling sweets of every kind, with a guinea pig rolling out with them.

"But he's a…"

The redhead was quick to cover her mouth with his hand. "Don't say anything that would upset our little friend. If he wants to be a rabbit, then so be it. Everyone is free to be what they want to be."

Aisha knitted her brows and pry his hand away. "You guys are weird."

"As weird as you are." Elsword replied without a beat and then pulled some more snacks out of his hat. "Toffee?"

…

With more time spent in Wonderland, Aisha found it more and more frustrating. She didn't know what was up and what was down. Elsword talking in circles wasn't of any help either.

She pulled on her twin tails as she climbed a hill, the Mad Hatter following just a step behind. "I want to go home! I have already been here for a week and I just can't stand this place lacking all the logistics!"

"That's what every other Alice have wanted." She heard him muttered. Others? Did he mean that there were other girls just like her? And they found their way out?

She quickly turned of Elsword, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him. "If there are others like me, then there has to be a way out right?! RIGHT?!"

Elsword had to take her hands and stop her from getting him dizzy. "Calm down. Of course there's a way out. But Wonderland invited you here for a reason and you cannot leave until your time is up. Everyone's time limit is different. You might find yourself home the next day, week, maybe a year but you will go back eventually."

"WHAT?!" The purplette panicked. Just thinking that she might have to be stuck here for a year was enough to give her a splitting headache. She couldn't take the illogical happenings in this twisted Wonderland. How Alice survived in the book was beyond a mystery. "But… but I have a test to study for! A college to get in! I always dreamed of becoming an artist or a writer, I can't just stay here for a year or more! And my parents will worry about me!"

"..." Elsword could only sigh. He didn't understand humans. Not at all. All they ever wanted was to find a way back home because of the things they could be doing instead of being here, enjoying Wonderland's givings. And she was just like any other girl that Wonderland invited. "Fine. If you're so eager to find a way home. I might be able to."

"Really?!"

"Though I have never been to the human world before so I'll have to make the connection through you."

Aisha frown. "What do you mean by that?"

Without warning, Elsword tipped her chin up and her purple eyes meeting with his red ones for the first time since they met.

"Like so." It was a fleeting moment but when he placed his lips onto hers, Aisha could the drumming of her heart and warmth that spread throughout her body. But at the same time, she could sense the Hatter's pain and frustration. There were other feelings but what caught her attention was the feeling of loneliness.

The purplette could see Elsword always in a tea party, talking and making conversations. However, all he had ever acquainted with were animals - talking animals but that wasn't the point. He never had an actual companion through his life in Wonderland and even if he does, he drove them away with his madness.

She was starting to understand why Wonderland had tried to invite her and many others here. Because she didn't want to see the Mad Hatter alone anymore, and quite frankly, Aisha doesn't either.

Wanting nothing but to rid of the feeling, Aisha placed her hands against Elsword and pushed him away.

Her hand then went up to cover her mouth as she turned as red as Elsword's hair. "W-what was that for?!"

The Hatter shrugged as if the kiss was nothing at all. "I think I got a good grasp as to where you were before you came."

He took off his top hat and pulled out a tea pot. He then placed it in midair and turned it as though it was a doorknob. The air shimmer and a door was revealed. "I won't guarantee that this will work so you better hold onto me or you'll be lost." He then tapped his head. "Like me."

Somehow, Aisha understood what he meant and was more hesitant to take his offered hand.

"I promise, I won't let anything happen to you until you're home."

These words comforted her and she took his head, believing that she was safe as long as Elsword was with her.

…

Aisha had to blink away the white spots in her vision.

"So this is the human world." Elsword mused, causing her to look at him. He pointed down and Aisha followed, gasping.

They were standing in midair, directly on top of the shop that Aisha worked in.

"That's my workplace!" She pointed.

"Hm…" Elsword hummed. "Wonderland Cafe? What a strange name. Is it like my Wonderland, where up is down and down is up?"

Aisha shook her head, a wave of homesickness hitting her. "Normal. Everything is normal and as it should be. People can't fly, things don't just randomly appear out of nowhere - especially hats and teapots."

Elsword frowned. "That's normal alright. If it was strange, then it wouldn't be normal. For normal can never be strange and strange can never be normal."

"... You're talking in circles again." Aisha pointed out. "Can't you talk normal for at least five minutes?"

"I am. Normal is strange and strange is normal. I am as normal as I can be or I would be strange."

"... Never mind." Aisha shook her head, hoping that she wouldn't get a migraine. "Can't we get down please? I don't want anyone seeing us floating or they'll freak."

"Can't."

"... And why not?"

"This is as much as I can connect, for Wonderland doesn't seem to want you to go just yet."

"... What?!"

* * *

 **Bleh, I'll upload the rest later since I needa fix some things.**


	2. Want to Go Back

**Here's the second part, enjoy!**

 **Guest - Uh hahaha... sorry but this might disappoint you. Gah... I excluded Cheshire Cat because I thought it would be too much to handle. If I did, it would be Add =w=b**

* * *

Elsword opened the door into the room to see a depressed Alice- no, Aisha - moping in a corner of her room. It's been a week since they got back from visiting Aisha's home world and her mood wasn't getting any better.

He sighed and knocked on the wooden frame to get her attention.

"Knock knock, Miss, you shouldn't be so down when the sun is up. Everyone is happy here, see?" He took off the cover of the tray that he brought in, revealing... a monkey...

The animal hopped off and did a happy dance around Aisha in an attempt to cheer the purplette up from her slump.

"Go away." was her muffled response.

The Mad Hatter tilt his head to the side cluelessly. "To where do you want me to go to? Wonderland is quite vast and grand yet quite small and boring."

A rumble came from the ground but it socked none of them.

"Ah, sorry dear Wonderland," Elsword apologized to thin air. "I was just trying to make a sun raise from our Alice. Surely you would -"

"Geez!" Aisha shouted suddenly, pulling at her hair while she was at it. "I'm tired of this place! It's too confusing and you're not helping!"

"Please don't cry up a lake," Elsword pleaded when he saw the glistening tears in Aisha's eyes. "A river would be nice. We do need more water since the Heat is stealing all our water. It's always a battle in the summer and the Heat always win no matter what we do. If only we could make it snow, like in winter -"

"Stop it, stop it, STOP IT!" Aisha finally snapped, standing up and storming out of the room that was provided for her. "I hate this teapot! I hate Alice! _I hate Wonderland!_ "

The world rumbled once more after Aisha's confession, more violently so than when Elsword had upset Wonderland.

"Uh oh." Elsword remarked as the world around him started to crack - literally. Pieces of the walls and ceiling were breaking apart from fantasy, revealing gears and broken clocks to be behind them.

The Mad Hatter took a glance at Aisha, who is now confused _and_ scared. His eyes widened when the ground beneath the Alice started to crack as well.

"Aisha!" Elsword exclaimed in worry, surprising himself that he could still muster that kind of emotion. He thought that there wouldn't be a day where he could actually care for someone else.

He didn't reach her in time and Aisha fell down the newly creaking hole, screaming for her life.

"Tch." He look around frantically, then heaved a deep sigh, deeper than any other that he have did before.

"Eough is enough." He declared firmly to his surrounding. Once underlying anger that his words delivered were heard, the trembling immediately stopped, the world didn't break anymore but the gears are still apparent in several places.

"You're acting like a selfish brat again, Wonderland." He said. "Just because Alice doesn't like it here doesn't mean you have to get mad. If I'm not the Mad Hatter, then I would get angry at you too."

With that, he jumped into the hole, hoping he would find himself in the same place and time that Aisha might be send to.

* * *

Aisha was bored. After the initial screaming for about ten minutes or so, it gets kind of tiring. Why? Because after ten minutes or so, the scenery doesn't change.

Sure she was falling down a tunnel, but she was still falling... or rather, sitting while falling.

Really, just how far does this hole lead her anyways. She actually thought about when she would just drop out of the sky again for a split second.

Really, this has got to be the most boring fall she had taken.

Aisha groan ten minutes of falling later. "Someone please make something happen already!"

And as if granting her request, she was suddenly shot down a chimney.

A fit of coughing accompanied the cloud of smoke. "N-not what I had in mind!"

As she craw out, she came face to face with a extremely sharp sword. "E-eep!"

There was a yawn before the wielder of the sword spoke up. "I don't like it when people interrupt my naps."

Aisha gulped and mustered up all of her strength just to look up at the person who had a say in her life. What she found most eye-catching here the mouse ears and tail that he have.

"U-um... I-I'm... I'm s-sor -"

"Never mind." The raven haired man interrupted, withdrawing his weapon and marched back to the couch a few feet away. "Just be lucky that I don't hurt girls."

"R-right..."

"Oh," He said lazily when his eyes closed. "You better leave before the Queen comes with all the commotion that you have caused."

"... what?"

He pried open one of his golden eyes to stare at her. "Don't you know that you're tress passing on the palace property of the Red Queen?"

"Eh...?"

"She should personally be here in three... two... one..."

The door suddenly flung open. "Raven, what was all the - and may I ask who that may be?"

"... Her dress... is white." Was Aisha's first comment but upon closer inspection of the queen's face, Aisha was both surprised and happy. "No way, Eve?! You're stuck in Wonderland too?!"

She jumped up, not even bothering with cleaning the soot off of her and bounced over to take the silverette by the hands. "I an't believe it's really you, Eve! How did you get here? How's the shop? Is everything -"

Eve took her hands away to cut Aisha's rambling off, an icy look crossed her face, making Aisha flinch. "Such impertinent presence, how dare such a commoner such as yourself address me so familiarly. That is a capital crime. Oberon, Ophelia, take her to the dungeon!"

"W-what...? W-wait a minute..."

The two servants came out from behind her and each of them took of hold of one of Aisha's arms.

"H-hey - let go of me!"

And Aisha was unceremoniously thrown into jail.

"Ow ow ow..." She mumbled, sitting up to massage her bottom. "What was Eve's problem?"

After that, she merely sat in silence, observing the rusty metal bars and the cold stone was of the cell she was thrown in. Tears started to well up when her situation finally settled in.

"This is the worst..." She mumbled, wiping her tears away with her hands, only to smudge her face with soot. "... Please... someone wake me up from this nightmare... "

"E-Elsword... w-where are you..." She continued sobbing.

"Aw, please don't cry, I hate hearing people cry!"

"W-whuh...?" Aisha sobered up enough to look up. Through the bars, she saw... white rabbit ears popping out of the ground. They moved around as if checking if the the coast was clear. Then, a head popped out, causing Aisha to gasp in surprise.

"Hi hi!" Greeted the new comer. "So you're the one who sneaked into the palace."

"R-Rena?!" Aisha blurted out upon seeing the familiar blonde hair and the sparkly emerald eyes.

"Rena the White Rabbit, that's me!" The White Rabbit confirmed and hopped out of the hole she just made. "How did cha know my name? I don't remember meeting you before and trust me when I say that I remember every face I meet."

"H-how... what do you mean you don't know me? I'm your employee for Wonderland cafe!" Aisha answered. "You're the one who hired me as Alice right?"

"Huh?" Rena tilted her head in pure confusion. "Wonderland has no such cafe though... and what do you mean I hired you as Alice, my job is to - wah! You're Alice?!"

Rena's eyes sparkled, hopping up and down in excitement. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! I knew Wonderland welcomed a new Alice but I haven't the time to visit the Mad Hatter to see what you look like! You're really Alice?! Wait, don't answer that. You really do look like an Alice!"

Aisha sweatdropped, feeling the sense of deja vu. _That's the shop owner said when she hired me..._

The White Rabbit nodded to herself after giving Aisha one more look over. "Yep yep, definitely a better Alice than all the others that came and gone."

"Umm... are you really not the Rena that I know?" Aisha asked timidly. "I mean... you look just like her and act like her too..."

"Wonderland has many mysteriously qualities," Rena explained with a finger raised, looking as if she was giving a lesson. "You might find people who look quite similar to humans of your world."

"Oh..." Aisha thought for a moment. "Then... that would mean that the Eve I just talked to is the actually Queen of Heart of Wonderland...?"

The White Rabbit nodded sagely and then looked at Aisha in awe. "Does that mean you know of a Red Queen from your homeland? That's so amazing! I was curious as to why someone would dare to get on familiar terms with Eve other than people that I know."

"Well... yeah I guess. Eve's my co-worker at the cafe that I worked at."

"Really?! She works?!" Rena gasped, her ears raised in alarm. "That's something I would never expect!"

Before she continued to start bombarding Aisha with more questions, Rena took the time to check her pocket watch... which turned out to be quite huge once she took it out. Half her size to be exact.

"Oh no! I'm going to run out of time!"

"For what?"

"For what? Escorting you out and waking Raven up!"

"HAH?!"

...

After leaving the dungeon after a short period of time, Aisha follow a hyperactive White Rabbit around the palace as if it was their own house. Rena didn't bother to conceal herself and just dashed straight down the corridor.

"R-Rena!" Aisha exclaimed as she watched the White Rabbit turning into a dot within seconds. How Rena runs so fast was beyond her, this hallway looked to be a mile long! Just what kind of palace is this?!

Upon reaching the door at the very end, Rena ignored all courtesy call and kicked the door down.

"Knock, knock! Raven, I'm coming in!"

The swordsman sighed and saw up from the couch he was sleeping on. "Say that before you knock the door down."

"Aw, but that would ruin my element of surprise!" Rena pipped innocently.

"What element of surprise?" Raven countered with a straight face. "You wake me up all the time. It's hardly a surprise."

"Ehhh?" Rena hummed in thought at his words. "Then... should I make the place go kaboom next time instead of kicking open the door?" She empathizes her words with hands childishly.

"... **No thanks.** " He answered prudently. He rather not lose his life just to be woken up.

He rubbed his temples at having to deal with Rena's antics before taking notice of the purplette behind the White Rabbit. "Isn't she the intruder from earlier?"

Aisha jolted and hid behind Rena.

"Yep! She's Alice!" The rabbit then realized something. "Ah, I never got your name Alice!"

"... Aisha."

"Okay! Aisha, meet Raven, the Dorm Mouse and Raven, meet Aisha, the Alice!" The blonde introduced. "Now then, let's hurry to the trial!"

"Trial?" Aisha inquired.

"The trail before your execution!" The White Rabbit said... a little too brightly.

The Alice paled significantly as her blood run cold. _N-No way...!_

"But don't worry, we'll try to reason with Eve to spare your life, maybe even roping Chung into helping too!" Rena tried to comfort but her words went in one ear and out the other.

 _I-I'm going to die?!_

"Oi, who said I'm going to help you?" Raven commented while Aisha panicked.

And before she knew it, Aisha was forced into the royal court. There she met with the King of Hearts, Chung, who is the judge. Rena bounced over to the king and whispered into his ears. He listened tentatively while nodding every once in a while. At some point, he smirked and looked over to Aisha.

"Interesting." Was all he said to her before entering into a conversation with Eve, who just arrived.

"All settled!" Rena informed when she came hopping back.

"Didn't you say that I was going to help?" Raven pointed out.

"Eh? But said you didn't want to." The White Rabbit replied, confused.

"..." He sighed and went to sit in the jury while muttering "The one time you listen..."

Aisha just stood in the center of the room, not knowing what she was supposed to do. It didn't seem like the court rooms that she have seen on TV. Just as she was going to question someone about what she should do, Eve stood up.

"The verdict has been reached. The punishment for the trespasser will be to to send her off to fend off against one of the lions."

"... Eh?" Aisha piped, at first not registering it but then, "EEEEEHHHH?!"

 _What kind of a trial is this?!_ "W-wait a minute! S-shouldn't there be some kind of proper procedure to these things? How can you just decide on that by yourself?"

Chung chuckled. "Actually... trial procedures last until Eve makes the final decision."

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"

"Silence!" Eve commanded. "How dare you raise your voice against the king! Should you not thank you for lightning the punishment for you?"

"... That is not call lightning my punishment!" Aisha argued, stomping her foot on the ground. "Besides, I'm innocent to begin with! I was at Elsword's place where I fell down a whole when the place started to fall apart and I suddenly landed here!"

"The Hatter's place started to fall apart?" Chung mumbled, his brows furrowing in concern. "Did you upset Wonderland?"

"How would I know?" Aisha snapped. "I don't even belong in here!"

"Enough." Eve demanded. "You seem not to know your place. Guards, off with her head!"

"Oh c'mon!" The purplette complained once she heard the trademark line spoken by the Queen of Heart in the story. "The Eve I know is never this unreasonable!"

Androids started to appear before Aisha from all directions all of a sudden, leaving her with no where to escape. Now she really regretted talking back to the queen. Why didn't she just just take the chances with the lion?

At a time like this, Aisha knew only one thing. She screamed. Not just any old scream either.

"ELSWORD! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"You called?"

Elsword suddenly dropped down on a bouncy ball and it popped upon contact with the floor, which cause popcorn to spill out of it. Why and how there were popcorn stored in that ball will forever remain a mystery of Wonderland.

"Sorry I took so long Aisha." He apologized. "I went after you but I was send to the opposite end of the world instead. Believe me when I say that there is nothing at the end of the world because the ground ran out."

Aisha was too speechless at the moment to comment of what he just said.

He sighed at her lack of response and pulled her close for a momentary hug. "Thank all the goods of the world that you're safe. By the way, popcorn?"

"Um... no thanks." Aisha answered, having finally found her voice.

Elsword watched her for a second before reach out a hand to wipe away tears that Aisha didn't know were falling. "Please don't cry."

Aisha pulled away, wiping them herself. "I-I'm not..."

"Elsword!" Rena pounced on him, using enough strength to almost send them flying. "How ya been?!"

"Dying." Elsword choked out, trying to pry her arms away.

"Oops, hehe! Sorry!" She released him with a giggle.

"Mad Hatter."

Elsword turned around and greeted her with a polite bow and smile. "Hello to you too Queen of Hearts. Love to chat but you don't like hats."

"..." Eve's brow twitched, showing the slightest hint that she was annoyed. "Guards."

And once again, soldiers of all types (knights, toy soldiers, nutcrackers...) surrounded Elsword and Aisha. The latter trembled in fright, realizing that they were surrounded and heading towards their doom.

"We're so done for..."

"Not as long as I'm here." Elsword declared, taking off his top hat and pulling out an unusually large sword. "Aisha, stay close to me."

"But..." The purplette looked around, seeing all the sharp weapons being raised at them. "How are you going to fight against _all_ of them?!"

"I promised you didn't I?" Elsword questioned back as the guards started to attack. "I won't let anything happen to you until you return home."

His words made her stomach do somersaults but it also brought security because for some reason, Aisha could trust his words.

"Okay."

"Hm..." Elsword hummed as he examined the weapon in his hand. "Let me see if I can still remember the trick."

He readied into a stance with the sword held in front with both hands. In the next second, he twisted on his soles and started spinning while mumbling. "Centrifugal force is the key, an increase momentum will increase the speed..."

He kept spinning and spinning until Aisha could only see a blur that resemble that of a tornado.

Before she knew it, dust started to lift from the ground and gather into that very tornado that is Elsword. The man-made wind that he created seemed to rival that of a natural windstorm.

He was spinning so dangerously fast that no one dared to come close to him. Then all of a sudden, he stopped and forced the tornado-made dust that he had created to move on its own.

Basically, Elsword just created a natural disaster. Indoors.

"Let's go." Elsword said calmly in all of the calamity he created but Aisha could detect a bit of strain in his voice. She was going to ask how but he took hold of her wrist and took off his top hat that didn't flew off somehow.

It enlarged and swallow them them completely. The hat was gone within the instant it ate the two.

* * *

A squirrel peeked its head out of a tree and threw off the top hat that it was suddenly wearing.

The article dropped to the ground, upside down. An after a brief moment of silence, it started to shiverand wiggle.

Before long, Elsword and Aisha were kicked out of the hat's belly and on top the ground in a heap.

"Oof!"

Aisha groaned as she tried to push herself up. Thankfully, she opened her eyes before she did and stopped abruptly.

If she had sat up, then she would have hit Elsword.

The proximity between their faces were too close for comfort. She couldn't help but turn as bright as Elsword's hair.

Said person just blinked at her and tilted his head innocently. "You're turning red. Are you sick?" He lightly tapped his forehead against hers since it was convenient but it only made Aisha heat up even more.

"Hm... you are getting a bit too hot."

"G-g-get -" She couldn't find her voice to finish because her brain was still trying to function properly.

"Yes?" The Mad Hatter waited patiently.

This was too much for her to handle and so, she found strength in her arms and pushed Elsword off of her while shouting "GET AWAY FROM ME!"

With her personal bubble secured, she was able to regain her breathing. She hadn't even realize that she stopped breathing in the moment.

"Ow..." Elsword massaged his shoulder that got hit against the tree he was pushed to. "What was that for?"

"W-why are you asking me that?!" Aisha pointed an accusing finger at him while hugging herself self-consciously with her free hand. "You need to know when to get out of an uncomfortable position!"

Elsword furrowed his brows and frowned in confusion. "I don't - ugh..." He held onto his head while his face contorted in deep agony.

"Elsword?' Aisha called, worried. She approached his side when all he did was groan in pain. "Elsword, are you okay?"

"... Of course I'm not - tch." He grimaced again and waved off her concern. "Yes, I'm okay. If I'm not, then I wouldn't be like this."

"... wha...?"

"This doesn't concern you."

"..." She was going to ask why but she stopped herself. She felt that asking would only cause more headache for him. She just sat by his side and lent him a shoulder to rest on. She didn't know what else to do but to stroke his head.

Aisha found his air to be softer that its spike appearance.

After awhile, his expression relaxed a bit.

"... If I don't speak in circles every so often, I will get headaches." He finally explained. "but I can forget that sometimes."

"... Oh." Again, she wanted to ask why but that really wouldn't help. At least she knew why he wasn't talking in circles a few minutes ago. "I thought it's your habit to talk in circles... so I found it weird that you didn't just now."

He chuckled bitterly. That was something new that Aisha haven't heard or seen and she was unsettled by it. "A Mad Hatter must be mad. But sometimes, its hard to stay mad when I'm lost."

And there he goes again with the confusing stuff but she understood.

 _So he wasn't always like this..._ She concluded to herself. It was a relief to her that Elsword had a normal life once. "Can I... ask what happened?"

"..."

Aisha didn't think he would since he wasn't responding so she was surprised when he lifted his head off her shoulder and started talking.

"Wonderland is a place where imagination runs wild." He started with the familiar comment that Aisha had heard before. "However, Wonderland cannot run herself alone. She needs roles to be filled and so, chosen people of Wonderland must take the roles of characters in the fairy tales and they are responsible for running Wonderland's errands."

"... You're one of them?"

"Yes. We are to fill those roles until our death. Then new Wonderland residents must take their place. We are then shaped into the role naturally, taking on that role's personalities and such and slowly forgetting our own."

"And you been a Mad Hatter since...?"

"..." Elsword looked forlorn as he gazed at nothing in particular. "Since the creation."

"What!" Aisha looked alarmed.

"You must have some knowledge of Alice in Wonderland, right?"

She nodded in response.

"The day I became the Mad Hatter is the day my time stopped moving forward..." His shoulders seem to become stiffer all of a sudden. "It stopped a few hundred years ago."

Aisha suddenly became unable to function when that reached her ears. She just couldn't believe what she was hearing. Here was a person who lived for several centuries, watching the world come and go while he remain unchanged. While others may think that this kind of immortality is a good thing, Aisha though that it was a bit... sad.

She could already see Elsword watching his friends and family grow old and leave him behind. She was then reminded of the time she was shown part of his daily life. It seemed as though he was always at a tea party.

 _He must be really lonely by now..._ "Why are you the only one that's different?"

"As the story goes, the Mad Hatter is forever stuck at tea time and the same happens to me. Besides, everyone is slightly different. There's no guarantee that the next Hatter can portray the role just right. My role is important when it comes to running Wonderland."

He turned to Aisha. "I am the Mad Hatter, the one who creates and breathes life into the imagination that Wonderland desires. For Wonderland to not have a Mad Hatter even for one minute... she wouldn't be able to sustain herself. She is but a child after all."

"Ah, enough about me. It's already too long without tea." Elsword started to stand up. "In regards to you being dragged here, please forgive Wonderland. None of us can fill the role of Alice since Alice does not belong to this world."

"..."

"There were several other Alices before you as I have said before, but..." He gave Aisha a small smile. "None of them were able to get me to think myself as a chimpanzee."

"Eh...?"

"I mean its been fun, Alice." He picked up his top hat and then bowed to Aisha in a gentleman-like manner. "And I hope you'll enjoy Wonderland with me until you return home."

She was taken aback by the sudden polite manner and blushed. Well, if it was only for a while, she wouldn't mind sticking around the Mad Hatter.

"Y-yeah..."

* * *

A random question popped up when she and Elsword rode on an over-sized dove. But it was one she had been wanting to ask.

"By the way, why don't you hang out with other people? Aisha queried. "is it really because you drive them mad?"

Elsword gave her a deadpan look, as if saying 'Are you serious right now?'

"How rude." he finally said, but with an indifferent face.

"W-wha...?"

"I only drive them mad half the time."

"... Is that even a good thing?"

"The other half is because the Queen of Heart forbid me to come into contact with her subjects and vice versa."

"Eh?"

"She does not like me for I say things that does not make sense... or so she says."

"... is it bad that I empathize with her?"

"Yes, very much. Would you live to take a dive from the dove?" He smiled, though it was anything but.

"..."

"Would you be bribed by candy?"

And so, Aisha wondered how long does she have to put up with the Mad Hatter.

* * *

Time passed quicker now that Aisha didn't bother with the going home business - though it was on the back of her mind.

As per Elsword's advice, she was enjoying the wonders of... Wonderland with him. They have traveled to several places, such as Mermaid Cove, Dwarf Mountain, Enchanted Forest, etc and all the while, Aisha understood Elsword more and more.

"Hurry up slowpoke!" Aisha called as she slide down a hill on an extra large leaf. Placed right next to her was a picnic basket. Today, they decided to have a picnic at Pixie Hollow.

Elsword was lagging behind but it didn't matter. Knowing him, he would catch up in no time using unorthodox methods.

She was looking forward to today, because she'll get to meet Tinkerbell and her friends. Though there might be the problem of their size but Elsword told her that if she ate a dwarf berry, it would all be solved.

However, her thoughts of what to ask the pixies were interrupted by the loud chiming of clocks.

"Huh?" Aisha looked around to see where the sounds are coming from but she couldn't find it. Where are the clocks?

She frowned and looked again. This time, she could feel tremors of some sort. _An earthquake?_

She tried to call Elsword but she couldn't see him anywhere, nor did he reply when she shouted his name. "What is blazes is..."

"..ha..."

A familiar voice came with the ding-donging clocks this time, but it was gentle compared to loud clanging.

"up...Ais... wake..."

"R...Rena...?"

Upon registering her boss's voice, her vision went black.

.

.

.

.

"Aisha, wake up!"

Her eyelids immediately snapped out at the worry in Rena's voice. She groaned and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes - wait, sleep? Has she been sleeping?

"Thank goodness." Rena breathed out in relieve. "You know, if you're tired, you should go home Aisha. You had me worry when I found you passed out on the table."

"What...?" Confused, she sat up and realized that she really have fallen asleep. Memories of her time in Wonderland came flooding back to her and she couldn't help but stare at her hands.

 _A... dreaming?_ She asked herself half in relief and half in disappointment.

"Aisha, it's getting really late," Rena said, checking on the cuckoo clock on the wall. "It's already midnight for goodness sake! You need to head home young lady!"

She didn't seem to heard Rena's words and stayed motionless. How could it all be a dream? It all felt so... real...

"Aisha?" Rena called in concern as the purplette pinched herself. "Are you okay?"

The prickle of pain that she inflicted on herself said that this was reality. So was it really a dream?

The more she thought about it, the more it seemed like so. _I mean, it's only logical..._

There was no way Wonderland was real. All those things that denied the physics of the world, it was just impossible.

"So it really was a dream..."

"Huh?"

Aisha smiled reassuringly at her boss. "Nothing. I just had a nightmare and it all felt so real, is all."

"..." Rena frowned. "But Aisha... you're crying."

"E-eh...?" Her hand reach up instinctively to touch her cheek, finding it to be quite moist. The memories of that time in Wonderland lingered like a plague as she tried to be rational.

"N-no..." She denied. She tried to tell herself that everything that happened was nothing but a dream. An experience that was impossible in real life. But the images of Elsword smiling and laughing wouldn't leave her mind.

"T-this is just... I'm just relieved..."

It was a dream. Definitely a dream. No doubt about it. So why? Why was she crying? What was there to be upset about?

Drip, drip, drip. It kept coming.

"Why... why won't it..." Aisha hiccuped while she rubbed her tears away with the palms of her hands.

"...stop?"

That night, Aisha wanted something different. She wished that she could throw away her rationality and go back. Back to Wonderland. Back to where she had left Elsword. All alone.

"I-I'm sorry..."

* * *

 **Hm... fin?**

 **Not sure if I should leave it like this. Everything's just so... rushed in this lol.**


	3. Extra Ending: Welcome Back to Wonderland

**A little extra to satisfy myself because it's been plaguing me... and sorry, can't really see reviews on FF so I can't reply to future ones until this thing is fixed.**

 **This** **is like an epilogue so yeah.**

* * *

Aisha strolled down the streets, carrying her school bag, as per usual. Recently, her surroundings has just became a blur for some reason. Was it because she hasn't had anything to do?

She hasn't been going to Wonderland Cafe for about two weeks now since Rena insisted that she took some time off until she gets better, seeing how she wouldn't stop crying that night. She couldn't blame Rena for worrying because, really, to her, she really was just crying for no reason at all.

When Aisha came back, she realized that time didn't move that much. Only an hour or so before Rena woke her up. Ever since then, Aisha has been not been able to resilient from the realization that she might have just been dreaming.

Since then, she tried not to think about it; just focusing on her school work and university entrance exams. It was, after all, that time of the year to worry about her future instead of moping what would have been a really good dream.

 _It was a good dream... wasn't it?_ Aisha thought achingly and sighed, the steaming breath clashed with the cold winter temperature and created a frosty cloud. She was in denial for a few days but when her normal life just continues without end, she came to accept it.

While she was thinking, her feet went on autopilot and when she came to, she was in front of Wonderland Cafe.

"Huh..." Aisha mumbled to herself. _Might as well go back to work. Hope Rena wouldn't be too upset about the long absence._

That day, Aisha didn't realized just how good it felt to be back in that environment.

Because when she stepped in, the familiar chiming of bells welcoming her gave her nostalgia. The cozy atmosphere and the lukewarm temperature filled with the scent of hot chocolate and marshmallows made her relax.

She really did miss this place.

That day, Aisha was glad that she went back.

Because -

"Hello, and welcome to Wonderland, where dreams can come true but where it can be distorted."

"..." It seemed as though time literally stopped when their eyes met. She could neither move nor speak. She was too busy trying to rationalize what was happening, how to calm her pounding heart, and resisting the urge to just jump hug this person in front of her.

Both of them was surprised and neither knew what to do.

Well... he did.

"I'm the Mad Hatter of this here Wonderland and though I'm mad, I'm not mad - if you catch my drift." A smile adorned the worker's flawless face, his crimson eyes twinkled with a certain light. "You look like an Alice but did you dye your hair in grape juice?"

"A-ah..." Was her intelligent reply back. Her grip on her school bag tightened as she tried to fight to hold her tears back and to not loose the strength in her legs.

"Aisha~!" Rena popped out of nowhere and hugged the purplette in unparalleled delight. "So much happened when you took a break but we miss you so much! Oh, and I see you met one of our new employee - there's also another one. The Dormouse! It took a lot of effort but I finally got him to work part-time here!"

Rena babbled on and on about something that Aisha didn't really get. Right now, her mind was too tangled at this strange but pleasant surprise.

"Ah, I'm so sorry!" Rena apologized when she realized that she was ranting. "I should let you get changed and then I'll let you get acquainted to your new co-workers! Oh but it's so busy since I recruited the Mad Hatter and the Dormouse... Well, since you two already saw each other, Aisha, meet our Mad Hatter, Elsword Sieghart! And Elsword, meet Aisha, the -"

"Alice." The Mad Hatter finished for her and tipped his top hat and bowed in a gentleman-like manner. "The White Rabbit was right. We can't have a Wonderland without her Alice."

He then grinned cheekily and extended a hand to Aisha. "Will you be taking another thrill ride in Wonderland, Aisha the Alice?"

Aisha blinked but smiled seconds after, brighter than the ones she had shown before, and accepted his hand. Her cheeks being a little warm but it wasn't due to the heater in the cafe.

"Yeah... But Wonderland just wasn't Wonderland without her Mad Hatter."

That day, Aisha returned to her beloved Wonderland.

* * *

"So it wasn't a dream after all."

* * *

 **There might be another way to interpret Elsword's sentence about being "mad" but I'll just throw the supposed meaning out there. Though he is mad(crazy), he isn't mad about Aisha suddenly disappearing on him. (Just in case people don't get it because I was getting confused myself lol)**

 **Let me just say, Mad Hatter... was hard to characterize because I have to think up of nonsense stuff and riddles that even confuses me.**

 **'Kay. I can go back to studying peacefully now.**


End file.
